Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, if you’re solely looking for cheaper childcare and have space for someone to live with you, look for someone just starting out as a nanny or with her own children similarly aged to yours. Both would be rock-bottom prices compared to a more experienced and/or more educated nanny or an AP with needing to pay the agency and include in the family.

What a nightmare! Having a nanny and her child live in your home? I'd rather pay fair rates than deal with that level of hassle. Also, I'd have to pay health insurance for someone living in my home. Not gonna have an uninsured person and her child living in fear of getting ill. Way way too messy.

PP here. I agree with you completely. However, there are people who fit the two criteria above, and there are also people who can’t afford an AP but need abnormal hours that daycare can’t accommodate.

Anonymous wrote:OP, if you’re solely looking for cheaper childcare and have space for someone to live with you, look for someone just starting out as a nanny or with her own children similarly aged to yours. Both would be rock-bottom prices compared to a more experienced and/or more educated nanny or an AP with needing to pay the agency and include in the family.

What a nightmare! Having a nanny and her child live in your home? I'd rather pay fair rates than deal with that level of hassle. Also, I'd have to pay health insurance for someone living in my home. Not gonna have an uninsured person and her child living in fear of getting ill. Way way too messy.

Anonymous wrote:I have had friends tell me they have a live-in AP and have heard a range on the high end of over $2-3k per month to around $1k (not sure how up to snuff this arrangement is).

What's my realistic expectation? Are there truly options for <$2k for live-in APs working all week?

What resource can you all recommend

Yes, it is spectacularly cheap foreign labor that is available to the masses.

9k agency fee
500 education
10,400 annual AuPair salary
$2,600 extra in food (us)
1200 extra in car insurance
1200 extra in car maintenance
500 in gifts


So at a bare minimum the program costs us $25,400.

Added optional expenses and taking the AuPair on vacation with you (common practice), taking the out to eat with you, and/or paying over the stipend.

We have always paid $250/wk ( I meticulously track hours and make sure the federal minimum wage gets paid). Right now we are paying $400/wk, because this is a very difficult time. Out annual costs are closer to 30k-32k.

Still an amazing deal for live in childcare. A super crappy illegal nanny who can't drive would still cost us $15/hr, which equates to $600/wk. Our family requires a driver and if we had a nanny we would need a legal worker with a clean driving record.

OP, if you’re solely looking for cheaper childcare and have space for someone to live with you, look for someone just starting out as a nanny or with her own children similarly aged to yours. Both would be rock-bottom prices compared to a more experienced and/or more educated nanny or an AP with needing to pay the agency and include in the family.

We love the program and are on our 4th successful au pair in 6 years - BUT you need to understand that these young people are not profession child care providers. You need to train, guide, mentor, help them in order to have a mutually beneficial and happy relationship/year together (or two!).

Never do this because its "cheaper" - do it because you like the idea of hosting, can use the flexibility, and arent going to be driven crazy by a young person figuring it out as they go along.

I disagree on the stipend.. It is still the norm in my area of DC. We do give bonuses in other ways and have an easy schedule. Or I should say -HAD an easy schedule before all of this.

You can find various discussions of this and there are wide variances on how much families spend in extras (we don't take our au pair on vacation unless it is drive-able, we don't need an extra car, etc). In any case it is still cheaper than a full-time nanny with more flexibility.

Other expenses not previously mentioned:
- car insurance, car

Note that a lot of au pairs do expect over stipend these days, so $196 is not really the norm at this point. Plus places like Massachusetts have put it into law that they need to be paid minimum wage.

We spend between $25k - $30k on the program. This includes:
- agency fees
- au pair stipend
- educational credit
- increase in household budget (food, utilities, phone, random household items, etc.)
- au pair events (extra person when dining out, going to festivals, activities, etc.)
- au pair gifts
- taking au pair on vacation with us (plane ticket, hotel room, activities, etc.)

I am not complaining. We are very happy with the program. But the money adds up. Plus, there is a mental investment into hosting a young person from a foreign country.

For a year you can expect to pay around $20-$22,000 once you include the agency fees, stipend, room and board, and the education fee.

There are strict rules on the AP program (45 hours per week, no more than 10 hours per day) so you need to make sure it is for you.

You will also need to invest time in having a young person from another country live with you.

Thankfully there are plenty of resources out there to explain the program.

Anonymous wrote:I have had friends tell me they have a live-in AP and have heard a range on the high end of over $2-3k per month to around $1k (not sure how up to snuff this arrangement is).

What's my realistic expectation? Are there truly options for <$2k for live-in APs working all week?

What resource can you all recommend

https://j1visa.state.gov/programs/au-pair#participants

Don’t forget all the other things that add up:
Inclusion in family life (restaurant meals and other local outings, possibly vacation, Christmas/birthday/welcome/departure gifts)
Transportation (car insurance and extra vehicle or stipend for mass transit)
Increased utilities (water, electric, cell, etc)
Tuition
Increased food cost (whether ap eats only what you eat or not, it’s still more money)

Basic cost is roughly $1.5k/month for just the stipend and agency fee. Stipend is $195/week, agency fees vary but $8k is average.

Around $10K to agency, minimum of $195.75 per week for au pair stipend for 45 hours maximum. During pandemic some families have decided to increase stipend

You should google "Au Pair Program"

I have had friends tell me they have a live-in AP and have heard a range on the high end of over $2-3k per month to around $1k (not sure how up to snuff this arrangement is).

What's my realistic expectation? Are there truly options for <$2k for live-in APs working all week?

What resource can you all recommend